My autonomous lawn mower thread/blog

Mad_maxx wrote:

I bought a Stihl RMI 632 today , dealer sold Husqvarna and Kress as well , he claimed the Husqvarna was a poor relation of the Stihl

In chainsaws yes, automowers not so sure.
I had the opposite advice from a local sthil dealer. He changed from selling sthil to husgavarna automower recently as the husgavarna is less problematic.
He would class Sthil as a better saw though.

NurseBridie wrote: »

The service has to do with (in car terms) the suspension. It's the 3 wheel 105 and I've now had the back wheel replaced twice, the wheel just falls to pieces. I feel the problem is with the rubber dampers as they seem to be worn and actually bent a little so I feel the support is not there. I see this unit is not being sold anymore so would also be concerned that I won't get parts in the near future. .

I got a 105 fitted earlier this year so they are still available. Dealer said husgavarna were to phase them out but decided against it. It cost me 900 euro plus fitting. Dealer said the charging unit is about 400 euro on its own
You could you ring one of the dealers and see if they had a reconditioned one or could they order a bare unit on its own.

Tilikum17 wrote: »

Noticed the past two day the mower keeps getting stuck. The grass has gotten extremely thick.

It’s usually out twice a day for two hours at a time. I’ve changed it to three hours at a time. Does 6 hours a day seem like a lot?

How long is a piece of string!

It depends on the mower and the size/complexity of the lawn.

Ultimately, if it’s not keeping up with the growth you simply have to send it out more

Thanks for the link here Kcross

Suggestions needed.

This is my house and garden. Currently 3 areas, with 1 and 2 linked by a strip of grass about 1m wide that goes up quite steeply at the end although I could possibly flatten it a bit.




More difficult is the concrete driveway between areas 2 and 3. Can a mower cross that area if I dipped the kerbs? I understand it would need to follow a guide wire but there are joints in the concrete like this one:



So I could possibly dig a narrow track in the middle rather than butchering the whole area.

Finally section 4 is an area of rough ground behind the back fence that is part of my site, I've just never got around to turning it into a lawn. I will do someday though so that would be additional grass area.

The full site is about 0.8 of an acre so that should give a rough idea of the sq m of grass.

searay wrote: »

Crossing from 2 to 3 could be done using wires in the concrete but high risk somebody would hit it with a car. Could you run wires close to the shed between 1 and 3 so there's less risk if a collision?

Not much risk of a collision. Anyone coming in the drive other than ourselves would need to buzz the electric gates so could be warned in advance.

Plus there is a wall along the front of area 1 as it's raised a few feet so the only place a crossing is possible would be where the red ? is on the image.

Either of these 2 joints would do the trick.

Thanks KCross

OK so to get this clear in my head, the guide wire can't cross the boundary, therefore I'd need to run the boundary either side and the guide in the middle?

How about if I ran the boundary wires in other tracks, which there are quite a few of due to the size. Could they double back towards the centre like this to form the boundary?



I'd prefer not to have to fart about with 2 separate mowers.

DrPhilG wrote: »

Thanks KCross

OK so to get this clear in my head, the guide wire can't cross the boundary, therefore I'd need to run the boundary either side and the guide in the middle?

How about if I ran the boundary wires in other tracks, which there are quite a few of due to the size. Could they double back towards the centre like this to form the boundary?

I'd prefer not to have to fart about with 2 separate mowers.

Not sure what you mean by double back but what you have shown with the red lines would technically work but what you end up with is the mower interpreting that wide area on the driveway between the two boundary wires as part of the lawn so it will actually spend time “cutting” that part of your driveway so not an ideal solution.

By keeping the area narrow it won’t naturally find its way across the driveway except when it’s specifically following the guide wire (i.e when it’s heading to area 3)

KCross wrote: »

How do you cut that today? Does the ride on travel up there or do you have a push mower too?

I do have an old push mower too but I usually just take the strimmer to it.

spose wrote: »

To put the wires across the driveway you only need a very small channel. I cut mine with a stone blade on a circular saw. Just needs to be deep enough to fit the wire and something over it to seal it

Yes and I could fit it into the existing track, but as KCross says I'd need 3 wires. That makes things tricker.

DrPhilG wrote: »

Yes and I could fit it into the existing track, but as KCross says I'd need 3 wires. That makes things tricker.

I have 3 wires crossing about 12 to 15m of tarmac. It’s not a big deal. The channels cut by saw are so thin the don’t stand out much. I put a photo of it in this thread at some stage.

hi folks - i only have a small enough grass area at back of the house. - maybe 25 meters squared - are there any mowers around the 500 euro mark that would be up to the task? pure laziness talking here as currently have a petrol mower which i take out every few weeks
cheers,
Mick

DaveyDave wrote: »

I got a Yard Force EasyMow 260 last month for €320, garden is 70m2 and it's grand. Cuts an hour each day no issues.

No app or anything fancy, the schedule is whatever time you first start it is the time it goes out at each day. No alarm or pin protection, no WiFi. Spending more just meant WiFi, an app or a 500m coverage but same 16cm cutting diameter as far as I know.

can i ask where you bought from?